Handwheel for manually operable valves



Aug. 20, 1957 Filed Aug. 11, 1954 H. J. BARNSLEY 2,803,032

'HANDWHEEL FOR MANUALLY OPERABLE VALVES 2 Sheets-Sheet l Aug. 20, 1957 H; J. BARNSLEY 27,803,032

' YHANDWHEEL FOR MANUALLY OPERABLE VALVES Filed Aug. 11, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 a FIG. 5. 54

INVENTOR.

flselsser d 542(YSLE7 United States Patent 6 HANDWHEEL FOR MANUALLY OPERABLE VALVES Herbert J. Barnsley, Fairfield, Conn.

Application August 11, 1954, Serial No. 449,243

1 Claim. (Cl. 16117) This invention relates to non heat-conducting hand wheels for manually operable valves, and is particularly directed to hand wheels of the described character which are provided with removable cover members suitable for carrying information as to the nature or use of the valves to which they are applied.

The hand wheels of manually operable valves are commonly molded of rubber or other suitable plastic composition material which is non-heat-conducting. It is frequently desirable to provide such a hand wheel with a name or indication as to the nature or use of the associated valve. However, in order to standardize construction, it is desirable to form such hand wheels in several parts, one of such parts having the necessary, information impressed therein, so that only the information bearing part need be varied in hand wheels to be applied to valves serving different purposes. Further, and particularly when the hand wheel is to be associated With a valve controlling a heated material, it is necessary that the portion of the hand wheel contacted by the hand when manipulating the valve be spaced from the associated valve stem so as to prevent burning of the hand.

Thus, it has been previously suggested to form hand wheels of the described character in at least two parts including a base to be fixed to the valve stem and a cap or cover formed of a non-heat-conducting material which is secured to the base. However, it has been found that the existing hand wheels, particularly when applied to valves handling very hotwater or saturated steam, tend to separate at the joint between the base and cap or cover thereof by reason of the heat communicated from'the' valve stem to the base.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a hand wheel for manually operable valves which includes a base capable of being rigidly secured to the valve stem, a cover of non-heat-conducting material engaging over the base and covering the end of the valve stem, and an arrangement forpreventing separation of the base and cover even when these parts are subjected to different degrees of expansion by the'heat communicated to :the base from the valve stem;

A further object is to provide a hand wheel of the described character which is constructed and arranged to facilitate the assembly of the cover upon the base, and to permit the separation of :the cover from the base When access to the interior of the hand wheel is required for securing or tightening the hand wheel on a valve stem;

A hand wheel for a manually operable valve embodying the present invention includes a base preferably formed of metal and having a central, noncircular opening to receive the correspondingly shaped upper end portion of a valve stem, with a nut being threaded on the stern, above the base, so that the latter is held on the stern and is nonrotatable with respect to the latter. A cap or cover, formed of non-heat-con'ducting: material, has a downwardly opening recess therein to receive thebase, and the periphery of the basejas well as the lower portion of 2,803,032 Patented Aug. 20, 1957 the recess, have non-circular configurations so that the cover, when engaged over :the base, will be non-rotatable relative to the latter. Preferably, the side wall of the recess in the cover and the periphery of the base-are polygonal.

In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a circular groove is formed in each of the flat sides making up the polygonal surface of the recess to receive a snap ring below the base after the cover has been assembled over the base, so that the snap ring, when engaged-in such groove portions, prevents removal of the cover from the base. The cover may be formed with a downwardly and radially outward opening notch or recess in the lower surface to accommodate an outwardly directed loop of the snap ring so that .the latter can be removed from the circular groove by manipulation through the notch with a screw driver or other tool.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, set screws extend radially inward through the cover and engage in suitable bores of the base to prevent removal of the cover from the latter. 7

The above, and other objects, features and advantages of the invention, will be manifest in the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment of the invention which is shown in the accompanying drawing forming a part hereof, and wherein:

Fig. 1 is a vertical, sectional view of a hand wheel embodying the present invention and which is shown assembled upon a valve stem;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal, sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary, detailed view of a portion of Fig. 2, but on an enlarged scale;

Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view of a portion of the hand wheel embodying the present invention;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary bottom plan View of another embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 6 is a detail sectional view taken along the line 6-6 of Fig. 5; and

Fig. 7 is a vertical sectional view of still another embodiment of the invention, with :the hand wheel shown assembled on a valve stem. Referring to the drawings in detail, and initially to Fig. 1 thereof, a hand wheel constructed according to one embodiment of the present invention is there illustrated and generally identified by the reference numeral 10; Hand wheel 10 includes a base 12 which is preferably formed of a suitable metal, such as, for example,

aluminum, stainless steel or bronze, and having a hub 14 of increased thicknessprovided with a central, non-cir-" cular'opening 16. As shown in Fig. 2, the opening16 may be of square configuration to receive the correspond-'5 ingly shaped portionlS at the upper end of a valve stem 20 to which hand wheel 10is to be secured. As is usual,

valve stem'20 is provided with a threaded extension 22 above square portion '18 to receive a nut 24 for securing base 12 to the valve stem.

Hand wheel 10 further includes a non-heat-conducting material, such as, hard mold-ed rubber or .a plastic composition, and having a generally circular outer configuration'with axial ridgeso'r serrat ons being provided on the periphery, as at 28, (Figs. 2, 3 and ring to Fig. 4, it will be seen that the recess 30 has a side wall which includes a cylindrical upper portion'lig; and a polygonal lower portion 34, which is octagonalin the illustrated embodiment, and has the sides thereof sub;

stantially tangential to the cylindrical side wall portion Q2 so that downwardly facing shoulders 36'are defined'at the" a cover 26 formed upper'edges of the corners of the polygonal lower portion 34of the recess side wall.

The outer periphery of base 12 has a shape corresponding to that of the polygonal lower portion 34 of recess 3% in the cover so that the cover 26 may be engaged over base 12, as in Fig. l, with the upper surface of the base seating against the downwardly facing shoulders 36 to limit'th'e movement of the base into the cover and thereby to ensure spacing of the extension 22 of the valve stem from the top portion of cover 26. It is apparent that, by reason of the polygonal or non-circular configuration of the lower portion of cover recess 30 and of the periphery of base 12, the cover 26, when engaged over base 12, is non-rotatable with respect to the latter so that manual turning of cover 26 is communicated to the base, and by the latter to the valve stem 28.

Preferably, removal of cover 26 from base i2 is prevented by a snap ring 38 which is circular and engages under the lower surface of base 12 in groove portions 46 formed in the flat side of the polygonal lower portion 34.- of the side wall of recess 30. 'As seen in Fig. 4-, the bottoms of groove portions 49) are preferably formed as arcs of a circle which is concentric with the cover and has a radius R (Fig. 4) which is larger than the perpendicular distance A from a flat side of side wall portion 3d to the center of the cover and smaller than the radial distance B from a corner of the polygonal side wall portion 34; to the center of the cover. Thus, as seen more clearly in Fig. 3, each groove portion 46 terminates short of the opposite ends of the related fiat side of side wall portion 34 so that, when snap ring 38 is engaged in the groove portion 40, spaced portions of the circular snap ring are free of the groove portions, as at 38a, and extend across corners of base 12. I

The above described arrangement of groove portions 40 has several substantial advantages in that spaces 42 (Figs. 2 and 3) are defined between the portions 38a of the snap ring and the corners of the polygonal side wall portion 34 to permit the insertion of a tool, such as, a screw driver, in any of such spaces for springing the snap ring 38 radially inward to remove the snap rings from the groove portions when it is desired to disengage cover 26 from base 12, for example, when it becomes necessary to tighten nut 24 or to replace the cover with a similar member bearing different information by reason of a change in the use of the associated valve. Further, the arrangement of the groove portions 40 in the fiat sides of the polygonal side wall portion 34 ensures that the portions 38a of the snap ring will continue to engage under the corners of base 12 even when the heat communicated from the associated valve causes difierent expansions of the cover 26 and base 12.

In assembling the hand wheel embodying this invention on a valve stem 20, the cover 26 is initially separated from the base 12, by removal of snap ring 38, and the base 12 is then secured on the upper portion of the valve stem in the manner previously described. With the base 12 secured on the valve stem, cover 26 is engaged over the base so that the latter fits closely within the lower portion of recess Finally, snap ring 38 is engaged in the groove portion do under the lower surface of base 12 to prevent upward movement of the cover 26 relative to the base, while the engagement of shoulder 36 with the top surface of the base prevents further downward movement of the cover on to base 12.

When the cover 26 is installed on base 12, in the manner described above, the top surface of cover 26 is spaced from the valve stem to prevent the direct communication of heat from the valve stem to the cover, and base 12 is preferably formed of a series of openings 44 extending therethrough to vent a recess 30 above the base to the atmosphere, thereby ensuring a cooling circulation of air through the interior of the cover. Since the cover 26 engages over and around base'12, the non-heat-conducting material of the cover may be grasped for manipulating the associated valve stem without the possibility of the hand coming into contact with hot metal parts. Further, in the described construction, the arrangement provided for preventing removal of cover 26 from base 12 ensures easy assembly of those parts, prevents inadvertent separation of the cover from the base, even when the hand wheel is associated with a valve handling heated materials, and permits easy removal of the cover from the base, when such removal is required in order to tighten the hand wheel on the related stem or to replace the cover portion of the hand wheel when a change in the information borne thereby becomes necessary.

In order to facilitate removal of the cover retaining snap ring, particularly when access to the underside of the cover is restricted, a cover 26a of a hand wheel 10a (Figs. 5 and 6) embodying this invention and being generally similar to the hand wheel 10, described above, is formed with a notch or recess 4-6 opening downwardly and radially inwardly and outwardly to receive an outwardly directed loop 48 of the snap ring 38a. Thus, even if access to the underside of the cover 26a is restricted, a tool, such as,-for example, a screw driver, may be inserted radially into notch 46 and pressed against loop 48 of snap ring 38a to dislodge the latter from the groove portions 40a so that the cover 26a can then be removed from the base 12a. Further, the visibility of notch 46 facilitates operation on the loop 48 to remove the snap ring 38:: and'draws attention to the means provided for an easy disassembling of the device.

Referring to Fig. 7, a hand wheel 1% constructed in accordance with still another embodiment of the invention is there seen to include a metal base 12b, similar in plan form to the base 12, which is secured on the upper end of a valve stem 20b. A cover 261) of non-heat-conducting material is hollow to define a downwardly opening recessfitib which, as in the cover 26, has a side wall including a cylindrical upper portion and a polygonal-lower portion in which the periphery of base 12b is closely fitted.

In the embodiment of Fig. 7, removal of cover 26b from base 12b is prevented by at least one set screw 50 which extends radially through a suitable opening in the side of cover 26b and is threaded into a tapped bore 52 formed in boss or thickened portion of the base 12b. In the illustrated hand wheel 10b, two set screws 50 are provided at diametrically opposed locations. It isapparent that, with the construction shown in Fig. 7, any differences in the rates of expansion of the cover 26b and the base 12b will not serve to release the cover from the base, as the set screws 50 will merely slide radially within the related openings in the cover.

While particular embodiments of the invention have been described in detail and shown in the accompanying drawing, it is to beunderstood that the invention is not limited to these precise embodiments, and that various changes and modifications may be effected therein without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A hand wheel, for engaging the threaded spindle of a manually operable valve, comprising a first cover portion of heat insulating material defining a dome-like cavity and terminating in a downwardly depending rim with a shoulder at the bottom thereof, the shoulder defining downwardly facing triangular faces corresponding with the angles of a polygon, a second cover portion of heat insulating material integral with said first cover portion and defining a polygonal aperture corresponding to the polygon and communicating with said dome-like cavity and being limited by said faces, a polygonal metallic base of predetermined thickness seated in said polygonal aperture and supported directly against said faces, said second cover portion further defining a subtended circular groove having chords substantially by the sides of the polygon,-

the extreme of said circular groove being spaced from 5 said faces by substantially the predetermined thickness, fastening means for engaging said threaded spindle and locking said metallic base thereupon, and a resilient open ring engaging in said circular groove and describing a circle of lesser diameter than the circle described by the corners of said polygonal metallic base for locking said metallic base directly against the faces to provide a rigid axial and rotary coupling between said cover portions and said spindle whereby said valve can be operated without regard to the temperature thereof, said second cover portion defining an open channel communicating with said circular groove and extending radially to the outer surface of said second cover portion, said resilient ring compris- 6 ing an eccentric portion fitting into said channel and adapted for being readily engaged by a hand tool for the disengagement of said resilient ring from said circular groove.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,524,764 Underwood Feb. 3, 1925 1,690,052 Carlson Oct. 30, 1928 2,086,158 Ernst July 6, 1937 2,191,304 Ashendorf Feb. 20, 1940 2,577,838 Baldwin Dec. 11, 1951 

